Halloween

Lizzy's best friend Milly had a 17th Birthday/Halloween party tonight and Lizzy went as Alice in Wonderland.  This is her with her new boyfriend Adam ....

... this is with Milly (not sure why this photo is in black & white) ...

... and this is her with all her friends - Adam, Lars, Indi, Simon, Bree and Harriet.

Shopping with Lizzy

Lizzy & I went shopping at Chadstone today for her dress for the Year 10 Social.  What a mammoth effort this was!

When we finally thought we had chosen a really nice one, she checked the Facebook wall which all the Year 10 girls have posted their dresses on and found that one of her close friends had bought the same one!  So it was back to the shops again to keep looking.

We found a couple more which she thought she really liked, but wasn't sure.  So, we kept looking ...

At last we found a lovely dress that no one else had posted on the Facebook wall!  Lizzy loved it and she looked fantastic in it!  So we bought it.

Which one did we get?  Well, you'll have to wait until Thursday of next week to see the pictures of the Year 10 Social!

Home Decoration

I have come back from the US so motivated to decorate my own home to celebrate the seasons and festivals in the way they do there!  Christmas will be my first opportunity, which won't be too difficult as we already have a lot of decorations, but I will ensure that they go up a lot earlier this year!

The next celebration will be the coming of Autumn and I'm gradually preparing for that one with great enthusiasm!  The Amercians put so much effort into celebrating their Fall with pumpkins, harvest fruits & vegetables, wheat sheaths, corn cobs, scarecrows and fall foliage at their doorsteps and on their front porches.  It was just lovely to see the effort they put in - and it was everywhere ...

Sometimes simple ...

... sometimes very ornate ... but always lovely!!

The insides of the houses and buildings are even more beautiful ...

Table decorations ...

... topiaries ...

... mantle pieces ...

... even Disney World was decorated for the Fall!



So, apart from keeping an eye out for some lovely decorating items, I have started on a patchwork Autumn table runner.  I have gathered the fabrics in the colours of the season and now have the wonderful job of putting them all together.

I wonder what the final product will look like?

Movies with Richie

Richie & I went to the movies this afternoon to see the new Scorsese film on the life of George Harrison. It was really long - 3-1/2 hours, with an interval after 1-1/2 hours, but we didn't even notice how long it was. It was a really great documentary that showed his life from his childhood to his death from cancer.

There were interviews with some of his closest friends like Eric Clapton, Eric Idle, Jackie Stewart, Paul McCartney, Ringo Star, Yoko Ono, his wife and his son, with heaps of footage, photos and music.  The film went into great detail about his time with The Beatles, the breakup, the Concert for Bangladesh (which I knew very little about), his music after The Beatles, his spiritual journey and relationships with the Hari Krishna movement and Ravi Shankar, and the formation of the Travelling Wilburys with Jeff Lynne (ex-ELO), Tom Petty, Roy Orbison & Bob Dylan (what an eclectic line up!).

I think what I am most grateful for has been the opportunity to get to know more of George's music, especially his album "Living in the Material World", which I hadn't even heard of (amazingly).  It has some really lovely songs, including "Give Me Love [Give Me Peace On Earth]" and a new one for me, "The Light That Has Lighted The World", which is just beautiful!  Some of his words are:

I'm grateful to anyone,
that is happy or 'free'
for giving me hope
while I'm looking to see

The Light that has lighted the world

If you want to hear the song, you can find it here:

http://youtu.be/_Qgf8fYGcmk

This movie is well worth seeing!

Netball

I had such a busy day today - first working at Tintern, then home for a couple of hours, then back to Tintern to host a meeting for parents about the Cambodia/Laos trip next year. Then I played netball for the first time in years! It was great, and I can't wait for next week's game.

Softball & Engagement Party

WOW!! Back into the busy life at home with softball, this afternoon ...

... and an engagement party this evening. This is Ray, the son of Wayne's cousin Sandy, and his fiancee Jenna.

A lovely couple and a very enjoyable party where we had a chance to catch up with our friends Ken & Lisa and their children Kate & Mitchell and let them know about our US holiday. Being seasoned US travellers themselves, they were able to give us lots of helpful advice about our trip before we left. I also had the opportunity to chat with Wayne's cousin Gary about the book he is writing debunking the concept (or con??) of Global Warming. A most interesting discussion!